A network may be characterized by several factors, such as who can use the network, the type of traffic the network carries, the medium carrying the traffic, the typical nature of the network's connections, and the transmission technology that is used by the network. For example, one network may be public and carry circuit-switched voice traffic while another may be private and carry packet-switched data traffic. Whatever the make-up, most networks facilitate the communication of information between at least two nodes, and as such act as communication networks.
At a physical level, a given network may include a series of nodes interconnected by paths. To access different types of networks, users may need to link their computers to the network with a modem. The modem may represent a new piece of Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) hardware and may come with associated device driver or controller software. Unfortunately, users occasionally encounter problems when they attempt to install the new hardware and/or software components to existing computer systems.
There can be a number of reasons for these installation problems, and identifying and resolving the correct reason can require a great deal of trial and error, which may cause frustration on the part of the user. Moreover, the troubleshooting process may be unduly complicated and/or expensive, and the time to cure may be unacceptably long.
The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicates similar or identical items.